unborn. dumb
National Lampoon’s Vacation and Dangerous Liaisons.
Odds Against Tomorrow. All star cast made an all star film for talented director (and producer) Robert Wise.
Side Street – A pretty good Anthony Mann noir. My favorite part was Farley Granger trying to fall asleep with a cigarette in his mouth.
@Fredo – No on “Winter LIght”? It’s probably my favorite Bergman, but then you might guess why. “Au Revoir Les Enfants” is fantastic. But be prepared, because Malle will do something completely different to you with each film. Are you on a Criterion binge?
Nathan – Of course you like Winter Light! But see, you’re not a die hard Bergman fan like some other people here and I wouldn’t have guessed that. It seems that given the religious themes in all his movies, you’d be all over his films. But maybe it’s because he sometimes looks down on religion? Was Bergman an atheist? I sort of get the feeling from his films that his dad really screwed him up and he rejected (or at least heavily questioned) the existence of God. I didn’t hate Winter Light; I definitely liked it more than Seventh Seal and Virgin Spring. But it was just a little slow for me and not as good as Through the Glass Darkly, which I really like. And I like I’ve said before regarding my difficulty with his films, religion and death are not themes are too interested in which is why his films don’t hit me like they do others.
But yeah, Au Revoir Les Enfants was wonderful. I certainly took a gamble by buying the Malle box set just based off of Au Revoir Les Enfants. Let’s hope I like the other two!
Fredo, Bergman’s views on religion are debatable. He himself said he was an atheist, but I don’t believe it is that black and white. I believe he connected religion with his father and he had a lot of problems with his father. I also think he was frustrated at God when life was difficult. For these two reasons I think he tried to ignore religion, but he was obviously deeply religous at the core, which explains why it always kept creeping into his films.
I started Berlin Alexanderplatz today. I finished four parts.
Unmade Beds. It has this naturalistic acting that made be believe what I’ve heard said – that it wouldn’t work any other way. Well, it worked well and I liked it. The director was there afterwards for a Q&A.
Well that doesn’t surprise me if Bergman said he was atheist. His films scream atheism the same way Bunuel’s films do. It’s usually the atheists who have the most complicated relationships with religion – whether they’re recovering Catholics or secularist Jews. At least, this has been my experience with atheists that I know. And for full disclosure, let me just say that I am NOT an atheist but have found atheists to be the most wonderful and generous people.
A Girl Cut In Two
From Hell- Stop giving it shit, I liked it, sort of.
House of Games- I refuse to talk about this heaping pile of shit, one of thee most over-rated films, in the history of man-kind.
I Heart Huckabees- It wasn’t a horrible film, one of thee few films that benefit from not actually paying attention to.
@Fredo – My problems with Bergman don’t lie in the fact that he holds a rather pessimistic view of religion. In fact, if anything, that would attract me. Frankly, I’m not interested necessarily in seeing a movie validate my own worldview or life experience. If Bergman struggled with God, because of his father or whatever, I’m fascinated to see that struggle play out on the screen. What frustrates me about Bergman at times is his need to make his seriousness felt by all. He impresses his agenda on the audience with a type of forcefulness reserved normally for Spielberg. (I’m probably the only on on this site that’s going to compare those two). Anyway, I don’t hate his movies (well, except a couple.) And I love Bunuel.
Thanks to TCM, I got the chance to see Bunny Lake is Missing, which was overall only okay but it had parts worth sticking around for, and Of Mice and Men, which I wouldn’t have sought out ordinarily but it ended up being an extraordinary film, and I caught all but the first 15 minutes of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which was a good watch as well. Overall, it was a good day of expanding my knowledge on some of the great American classics with the addition of seeing my first Otto Preminger film.
Somehow found time for “Antoine and Colette” last night in between a rigorous schedule of staring at the wall and staring at the window. Since it’s only a third of a proper feature length (roughly speaking), I’ll give it a third of a rating scale: 3.33/3.33
“Kill Bill” 1 and 2 on the big screen tonight. I’d stay for “Repo Man” after, but I think the fucking MBTA would shut down before I could get the train I’d need, let alone home, by the time it’s all over.
Lust, Caution. Really liked it.
in bruges. I loved it.
A Soldiers Story. . It was pretty enthralling and i thought the plot was quite compelling.. Didnt enjoy the soundtrack however, it was a bit dated.
Also saw Gonzo. Hunter Thompson is truly a legend.
Army of Shadows
Just finished The Insider. Incredible film and just ‘nearly’ perfect. ;)
Straw Dogs(again) and Peeping Tom which blew me away. Its the first Powell I’ve seen, any reccomendations for the next?
1-3 episodes of Heimat…absolutely superb so far….
In preparation for next month’s Robert Wise Blogathon, I rented a VHS copy of THREE SECRETS (1950). Wow, Wise can lay a foundation like nobody’s business…
“3 Women” – Holy shit, how did I miss this film? This might be one of my favorite Robert Altman films! Damn it, now I need to go back to B&N.
Fritz Lang’s Spies
Inadvertantly hilarious at times.
in the early afternoon I watched Fearless, the jet li film with my gf which was good, makes me feel happy that movie does yet sad for the main character.
and this evening on the auteurs via my ps3 and full screen i watched the lost world (1925) which was pretty damn cool, people should check it out.
in the early afternoon I watched Fearless, the jet li film with my gf which was good, makes me feel happy that movie does yet sad for the main character.
and this evening on the auteurs via my ps3 and full screen i watched the lost world (1925) which was pretty damn cool, people should check it out.
I went to the film forum in New York City to see Bigger Than Life, which I first saw when I was 9 years old. Not a great film but the set ups that Ray uses including his fine use of cinemascope, and his emotional lighting techniques make it worth seeing. This would be a perfect film for criterion to issue. James Mason was as usual very fine, and Barbara Rush was a really beautiful woman. Some of it of course is a little creaky but the story of a man addicted to prescription drugs was way ahead of its time.Also the final 4 episodes of Mad Men. Wonderful.
Shoot the Piano Player – Eh. Whatever.
French New Wave? Big time WHATEVER.
You’re 0 for 4, froggies.
The End of August at the Hotel Ozone
Fredo
Under the Volcano – Eh. Whatever.
Au Revoir Les Enfants – Fantastic. Heartbreaking. Wonderful piece of work.
Touchez Pas Au Grisbi – Ok. Nothing extraordinary but interesting film.
Winter Light – Good but not great. A little too religiously introspective for my taste.